“WELIHULE’ REMARK COSTS BUSINESSWOMAN K1,000
Written by Millennium on September 23, 2019
MUTINTA MULAYE writes
@SunZambian
A BUSINESSWOMAN of Kabwata has been ordered by the Boma Local Court to compensate a woman of the same area with K1, 000 for calling her a prostitute.
This was in a case in which Christine Manengu, 31, a secretary took Cheelo Phiri, 32, to court for defamation of character
Manengu told senior local court magistrate Bertha Zulu that Phiri had been saying bad words about her and accused her of being a sex worker.
She said she knew Phiri because they stayed in the same neighborhood.
“We knew each other from the time we did our business of making wigs together. Phiri owes me some money which she is refusing to pay and that’s where the problem started,
“I spoke to her husband because I wasn’t getting anywhere with her. One time I went to where she works and she told me ‘welihule stop calling my husband as if he’s the father of my children and she chased me from her stand,” Manengu said.
She said she had been on separation with her husband which even made the prostitution stories more believable to people.
In defence Phiri denied calling Manengu a prostitute and said she only told her that she had manners of a prostitute.
“I wasn’t refusing to give her the money, she also has my wigs which I want back. She always approaches me as if I’m the one who finished her marriage. She came home shouting the other day and my husband said he would give me the money to send for her,” she said.
She later sent the money to Manengu and told her husband to communicate with her to ensure she received the money.
“I didn’t know that she continued communicating with my husband so when she came to my stand I asked her ‘ninshi wakwatila amano yabuhule’ because she was busy calling my husband. I asked her why she was acting like a prostitute. I chased her from my stand after that,” she said.
The court found Phiri with a case to answer because the two exchanged words and she herself said she spoke the words ‘acting like a prostitute’.
Magistrate Zulu ordered her to compensate Manengu with K1, 000.
